Tailoring phase composition and microstructure morphology of ZrN coatings via target types and N2 pressure in pulsed laser deposition for enhanced tribo-corrosion performance

The extreme marine environment imposes stringent requirements on the tribo-corrosion performance of protective hard coatings for engineering equipment. In this study, pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was adopted to deposit ZrN system coatings on SS304 substrates. The influence of target types and N 2 pressure on coating composition/structure and properties was detailly compared and analyzed. Results indicated that the utilization of a ZrN target, rather than a Zr target, facilitated the production of pure-phase ZrN coatings and effectively minimized droplet formation on the surface. Whereas, controlling N 2 pressure significantly altered the microstructure morphology of the coatings, simultaneously refining the grains and improving surface density at 10 Pa. Ultimately, by coordinating the regulation of target types and N 2 pressure, a pure ZrN phase coating with fine grains and dense structure was successfully prepared, which exhibited outstanding mechanical properties and excellent tribo-corrosion performance compared to other samples. This method provides certain reference for the composition/structure design of marine protective coatings in PLD preparation process, uplifting the performance of marine engineering components in tribo-corrosion environment.